Nuclear waste could be buried in Norfolk, with the county the focus of a government search for a site to build a multi-billion pound underground storage centre for radioactive material.
It is one of a number of areas around the country where experts believe the new facility could be created.
As part of the process, Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) - the organisation tasked with finding sites to store by-products from the nuclear industry - published an advert in this newspaper with details about its plans.
Rather than imposing a site on an area, communities and local councils are encouraged to come forward, with the prospect of investment and jobs for the location selected.
The organisation promises a "guaranteed investment in communities", such as new schools, roads, train links and environmental protection.
In its advert, NWS said the underground site - which would cost between £20bn to £53bn - would be in operation for 175 years and could generate 2,000 jobs a year.
Any move to house such a facility in Norfolk would prove extremely controversial and trigger fierce opposition from environmental groups and locals.
While there is no indication of where in Norfolk a site could be built, an area near Thetford was previously been identified as a potential location to store nuclear waste.
Under those plans - which were never approved - material would have been placed in 26 huge caverns built beneath the STANTA military zone.
The new plans involve the creation of a 'geological disposal facility' (GDF), which would be a "highly engineered structure consisting of multiple barriers that will provide protection over hundreds of thousands of years".
It would involve waste being placed in specially-built chambers deep below the surface of the earth.
NWS insist such a facility would be completely safe, with no threat to the local community or environment.
Most of the waste for the site would come from Cumbria, location of the former Sellafield nuclear power station and a centre for nuclear waste processing and storage.
East Anglia is home to Sizewell B, in Suffolk, which will eventually be joined by Sizewell C, a new site under development.
At Sizewell, waste is cooled in a used fuel pond before being loaded into a metal canister which is welded shut and placed in steel and concrete casks.
But NWS says those are not permanent solutions. Eventually, the structures will need to be replaced, or the waste moved elsewhere, which is why geological disposal facilities are seen as the long-term answer.
The use of nuclear power in the UK has come back to the fore in recent years, as the country moves away from fossil fuels and tries to address growing concerns about energy security.
During her leadership campaign and her brief stint as prime minister, South West Norfolk MP Liz Truss said she would reform the UK’s energy mix by building more nuclear stations.
Graham Plant, deputy leader of Norfolk County Council, recently said he was keen to see three small-scale nuclear reactors built in the county to ensure there is enough energy in the future.
Meanwhile, a new study commissioned by the Nuclear Industry Association and published this week, showed the UK's civil nuclear sector contributed £1bn to the east of England’s economy in 2021.
As part of NWS' search, four 'community partnerships' have already been formed - three in Cumbria and one in Lincolnshire - to explore whether they could be suitable.
But the organisation wants to expand its search.
A spokesperson said: "This is not specific to Norfolk. Nuclear Waste Services’ is encouraging interested parties and local communities in a number of places across the country to come forward and engage with the GDF siting programme.
"In line with the government's 'Working with Communities' policy, NWS is required to raise awareness about the GDF programme with the primary objective of finding a willing community and a suitable site."
The spokesperson said there had not been any discussions with councils in Norfolk about the programme.
A Norfolk County Council spokesperson said: "We understand the government approach is based on communities expressing an interest in hosting a facility, we support that approach and at this time are not aware of any appetite for such a facility in Norfolk."
NUCLEAR NORFOLK
It is not the first time Norfolk has been mooted as a potential place where nuclear waste could be stored.
In the 1980s, Nirex, the body which handled the country's nuclear waste at that time, identified the Stanford Training Area (STANTA), near Thetford, as a potential location on a secret list of 12 possible sites for storage.
When those plans became public knowledge in the 1990s, Norfolk County Council, Breckland Council and the then MP Gillian Shephard pledged their opposition to the plan.
In the 2000s, further details were revealed using the Freedom Of Information Act.
It emerged, that, had Stanford been chosen, 26 massive underground caverns would have been carved out 500m below ground, connected by four lift shafts to a 150-acre works site.
Waste would have been brought in by rail over four miles of new track, and roads to the west of the site would have been improved.
The possible use of the 30,000-acre STANTA site, which is still used for battle training by the military, re-emerged again in 2008.
But Breckland council said then it had no intention of bidding to become a nuclear site.
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